Create Your Own Who Do You Think You Are? Story with FindMyPast.co.uk

FindMyPast.co.uk has released a beta version of a new service. It allows anyone to create a personal “Who Do You Think You Are?” story, modeled after the very successful television series.

In essence, you can become the star in your own Who Do You Think You Are? episode, telling your family’s story using your own words and pictures. You can include interesting tidbits such as family gossip and special memories. The web site will then automatically add historical events to swap for key points in your family’s history. You can preview and edit your progress as you go. You can email relatives to ask for help on family facts, and continue to build your story at any time.

Once you are happy with the results, you can share your story with others via email, Facebook and Twitter so that your friends and loved ones can enjoy it too. The result will be an online slideshow featuring the text and pictures you provided, supplemented with information about historical events as provided by FindMyPast.

The service is in beta so you might encounter some bugs or missing features. However, in my short experience with the service, I didn’t encounter any problems.

The historical information added by FindMyPast seems to feature mostly U.K. events. That isn’t surprising as the service is being offered on FindMyPast’s U.K. web site at FindMyPast.co.uk. If this new beta test becomes successful, I might guess it will later be offered in versions for the U.S. as well as for other countries.

Dick Eastman has been involved in genealogy for more than 30 years. He
has worked in the computer industry for more than 40 years in hardware,
software, and managerial positions. By the early 1970s, Dick was already
using a mainframe computer to enter his family data on punch cards. He
built his first home computer in 1980.

September 24 & 25, 2016 - Third International Family History Conference, Clare, Ireland

Dick Eastman LIVE at your event

Dick Eastman is available for presentations and full-day seminars at genealogy conferences around the world. Dick knows that sitting through a boring speech is painful. Therefore, he keeps things light and humorous, giving presentations that are educational, motivational, and entertaining.